Aethros
Aethros is the second boss that players encounter in Stormtalon's Lair. He appears as a large air elemental in the center of a oblong chamber. This guide covers both the Normal and Veteran versions of this fight. Veteran specific mechanics appear in italicized font. General Information *'Statistics' **'Health/Shield'; 137.3k (Normal), 1m (Veteran) **'Interrupt Armor'; Infinite* **'Damage Type'; Melee, Physical *'Abilities' **'Lightning Bolt'; Aethros channels a lightning bolt that strikes where a player was standing. If struck, the player takes moderate damage and is knocked down. **'Torrent'; Aethros begins channeling a large telegraph where every player in the group was last standing. On the completion of the cast, the area is strike by a large lightning bolt that deals heavy damage and knocks players down. **'Air Shift'; At the end of a short channel, Aethros disappears and three smaller Gusts of Aethros appear in his place. The Gusts have their own health pools that are not tied to Aethros, and Aethros will not reappear until all of the Gusts are killed. **'Tempest'; Aethros begins channeling a long spell. If it goes off, it deals massive damage to every member in the group and knocks them down (more than likely it will wipe the group). On Normal difficulty, this spell has a 30 second cast time, and Aethros has 2 Interrupt Armor while casting it. On Veteran difficulty, this spell has a 15 second cast time, and Aethros has 3 Interrupt Armor while casting it. **'Teleport'; After a short animation, Aethros disappears and reappears somewhere else in the room. *'Major Mechanics' **'Tornados'; When players first enter his chamber, Aethros creates a large number of tornados and sends them to line both sides of the room. They have a red telegraph at their base, and if players walk into them they are thrown into the air and take a moderate amount of damage. They may also take additional fall damage when they land. Strategy When players enter his chamber for first time, Aethros will play a short introduction and line the walls of his chamber with Tornados. They remain stationary until later phases in the fight, but players can still get hurt if they walk into them. Once players engage Aethros, he will begin attacking the player with the highest threat. Aethros deals extremely high physical damage (the highest that players will encounter in Stormtalon's Lair), so DPS should allow the tank to gain adequate threat and the healer should be ready to start spamming his best heals on the tank. Aethros will occasionally throw a single lightning bolt at a random player. It has a short cast time and deals moderate damage if it hits, but can be avoided by dodging or moving out of the way. Aethros may also cast Torrent, which has a larger telegraph and targets every player in the group. It deals very high damage, so players should be looking out for it. Otherwise, the players can simply focus their DPS on Aethros. Once he takes enough damage, Aethros will cast Air Shift and transition the fight to another phase. ;Air Shift At approximately 75% and 25% of his health, Aethros will phase out and be replaced by three smaller creatures called Gusts of Aethros. These Gusts have their own separate health bars, and must all be killed before Aethros will re appear. They must be handled differently depending on the difficulty setting of the dungeon. On Normal difficulty, the Gusts have no special abilities outside of their normal attack, and can be taunted, knocked down, snared, rooted and so on. Their individual attacks deal only moderate damage, but the three of them together can deal heavy damage very quickly if they're all attacking the same target. The tank should quickly round up all three of the elementals while the DPS burns them down. Members of the group can stun or knock down the elementals if the damage becomes unmanageable, however its recommended they do so early in preparation for the next phase of the fight. On Veteran difficulty, the Gusts gain infinite interrupt armor, become immune to taunt and gain an ability called Static Field. When used, one of the Gusts will channel a spell on a random player in the group, and on completion that player will drop a large field of static under the last spot he was standing. This static deals high damage and a snare to any players that stand in it, and persists until the end of the encounter. As this may complicate subsequent phases in the fight, its recommended that players take the Gusts toward the sides or the back of the room, and try not to drop the static fields anywhere in the middle of the chamber. Once of all of the Gusts are defeated, Aethros will re appear in the far back of the room and begin another phase in the fight. ;Tempest Immediately after re appearing, Aethros will teleport all of the players in the party to the very front of the room (the point where they first entered the chamber) and then begin channeling Tempest. Players must race back to Aethros and interrupt his spell before it goes off, otherwise he may kill the entire party. The Tornados at the sides of the room will begin sweeping back and forth as players attempt to reach Aethros, and a steady stream of lightning bolts will work their way towards players from where Aethros is standing. Getting hit by a tornado or lightning bolt will slow the player down, and may cause them to get hit by more tornadoes/lightning bolts (and possibly kill them). Players should have movement and/or survival skills ready in order to get through, and once they reach Aethros they should immediately use their interrupt ability on him. Aethros' Interrupt Armor does not regenerate during this phase of the fight, and it will generally take multiple players to bring him down. Interrupting Tempest rewards players with a brief Moment of Opportunity, after which Aethros will immediately cast Torrent and then resume attacking the players. ;Finishing the Fight Aethros will cycle through his entire fight pattern again, except he may cast Torrent on the party while he's present and will occasionally teleport across the room. Players should quickly re engage Aethros and be mindful not to get caught in any Torrent casts. The second (and final) time players interrupt Tempest, players will re engage Aethros again, except this time the Tornados will continue sweeping across the room at varying speeds. When he teleports, players should be careful to avoid the Tornados, and they should also be watching not to get caught in Torrent. Aethros will no longer change phases at this point; the group will simply damage Aethros until he is dead. Pro Tips *A single dodge takes a player JUST far enough to avoid Aethros' Torrent. The spell can overlap with itself however, so players should make sure they're dodging to a side where another player isn't standing. *The lightning bolts during Aethros' Tempest cast aren't random, but actually drop in set paths from Aethros and toward the players. Players can tip their cameras up to see where the bolts are coming from, and can simply adjust where they're running to completely avoid them.